desertoth

Questions about mod compatibility: Geographic Revision (Climate maps on geoscape) Geographic Addition (Cities on Geoscape) Bigger Pool The third one I'm more worried about, because it:

1. How do I modify the xml for characteristics of UFOs with respect to their appearance/timescale in waves? OR 2. How do I modify the gamesave to gift myself an item, specifically a UFO datacore?

The mod adds a UFO named "Drone Carrier". What would I have to change in the xml or save files either to gift myself a Drone Carrier Datacore, or else to change the schedule of their appearance in waves? I've been struggling with this mod on and off for a few months. I can't get to the final research to send a team to the Dreadnought and complete the game. The problem is, I'm missing just one datacore, for the Drone Carrier. I've tested it out reloading a save just before a wave and tallying the types and numbers of craft, and it seems to be the case that the Drone Carrier is the only UFO that no longer appears in the late game. I see plenty of "Drone Attack Frigate", the upgraded version of the Drone Carrier, but I suppose when the latter were around I always shot them down over water. So I need to cheat my way around this.

I should have been clearer. I downloaded the fixed XCE Mod Pack. I'm referring to the Xenonauts Fix Pack bundled within the XCE Pack: Is it recommended not to install the stand-alone version of the Xenonauts Fix Pack 1.41 over the version included in the XCE Mod Pack?

The Restored Community Map Pack in XCE 0.34.3 has significantly less content (in file count and total size, by an order of magnitude) than it did in the previous versions. Does the 0.34.3 version of the RCMP tolerate just being copied over, with overwrite on prompt, or is the old non-overlapping content meant to be discarded (i.e. clean install of the new version)? I ask because it is not mentioned in the update notes, and there might be a different procedure with a map pack compared to the core XCE mods or the Fix Pack. Also, the latest included Fix Pack seems reduced from the standalone 1.41, lacking the former's top-level XMLs except for gas_gc and sounds_gc. Is it not recommended to use the full standalone Fix Pack over the version included in XCE?

What is the compatibility with other mods? That is, with a glance at the files it seems like this mod might conflict on changes to weapons beyond projectile (damage, range, mitigation, etc.), for any mod with overlap in weapons_gc and vehicleweapons_gc.

Logically then, we should never need statistics on weapons or armor, only verbose descriptions of capabilities. That would be fun.

Nineofthree and Chris are exactly right. Without information and feedback on the player's actions in Xenonauts as it is, we might as well watch the game be played by a computer roulette. Games purporting to involve or depict strategy or tactics must be data driven on their inputs and outputs, even if some of that data is not available in the real world. The Combat Mission franchise, or at least least the original trilogy for it's part, considered cover and concealment mechanics important to the game design, and so provided the player several crucial tools. One being the ability to obtain a unit's line-of-sight and range to any point, another being an "exposure" percentage on a fire target and an abstract "firepower" value for the intensity of fire that a unit can deliver to one location from another. Without these details, the game would just be hard-to-see blobs popping in and out around the map for inscrutable reasons.

The HM screen's purpose is to give the player some information on what's going on during the alien turn, especially moments of danger for your soldiers, without being disorienting or overly rapid. Personally, the only thing I ever wanted with the Xeno1 HM phase was the option to skip a given hidden step, especially those that don't give actionable information (e.g. far from my troops or any point of contact, or when all aliens are confined to the UFO). Adding SPACEBAR = skip step would be perfect. Alternatively, though less sanguine, would be to begin the turn with flashing lights or icons around where aliens/civilians entered LOS, and around soldiers who received or returned fire. Speaking of civilians, civilian movement across LOS is one of the best arguments there is for my hotkeyed skip-step proposal.

Up to now alien capabilities in a mission have been determined by race, ship size/mission, and game phase. That's what makes Quantum Cryptography useful in arming for a mission. "Dynamic enemies learning from player actions" is always popular, but the simplest application would of course be to spawn aliens with equipment well-suited to whatever the Xenonauts are bringing to bear in a given mission. On the other hand, this would imply that all aliens go into battle expecting to be shot down for a deathmatch with the same group of enemy soldiers, every time. Relating to the proposed change of teleportation vs. air transport, if both are included then counterbalanced alien equipment could reflect a drawback of the latter in initiative delay of physical transit. (Tidbit: Looking at other XCom derivatives, UFO: Alien Invasion encourages the use of ballistic weapons in late-game missions by permitting research of "encased plasma" ammunition.) But I don't believe there is a need for a game to balance all weapons equally against each other, less so categories of weapons. This doesn't need to feel like Age of Empires. Reasons for equipping soldiers with particular weapons can be tactical or strategic. Tactically, all the missions the Xenonauts in the original game undertake are search and destroy operations (or breach and clear, if you like) against a delimited opponent and area: commandos ideally, souped-up SWAT less charitably. A more clever AI would be the first step in promoting a variety of loadouts. A second step would be more varied maps for the AI to take advantage of, and the possibility of longer engagement ranges. This would make plasma especially suited for urban operations, Mag suited for long-range engagements (e.g. storming across an open field toward a UFO while neutralizing or suppressing enemy fire). Assuming armor in Xeno2 works well (such that it's not tantamount to softening up an MBT with pistol-caliber rounds), Mag weapons would be necessary to bring down Androns reliably, the other options being heavy explosives or concentrated fire from plasma or laser weapons. (A third step should be mentioned, though potentially the most difficult to adequately implement, would be to permit more forces to engage in one battle, permit alien and friendly air support, or reinforcements...) Strategically, there are issues of economics and procurement, as well as consideration of the enemy's counterpart. That's trickier to discuss here since it calls for a holistic appraisal with all other game aspects, but setting the humans aside the simplest principle is to give the aliens more options to work with. The Xenonauts X-Division mod makes an attempt at this by giving the enemy a buttload of new weapons and categories, but I have mixed feelings for that approach. As for how alien procurement works, insofar as this game doesn't become a grand strategy simulation I don't think it should matter or be accounted for: their armaments are effectively unlimited and loadouts, when not directly influenced by Xenonaut resistance, depend either on (more or less obscure) cultural factors and mission protocols. Importantly, some missions simply should be easy, just as in X1 Scout capture is inherently easier than Carrier or Battleship capture. To a point it shouldn't matter what you bring to these missions. If the aliens have a hard time, t

Not in gameplay terms, to be clear - the effect is only felt by the user from the display. Notice how the same darkening occurs outside the ship, where there would be no soldier LOS anyway.

First ground combat on a new game with the Xpansion Pack mod either disabled or enabled did not encounter the brightness shift. All variables tested across night combat, as I don't think I encountered the issue in day combat (or else it was not noticeable). This implies the problem develops over the game course, and may not be related to any specific mod. I suppose in my case there's nothing for it but to ignore the effect.

It does not happen in the main menu or geoscape (for all I know the same technical process is occurring, but there is no visible change in brightness as in ground combat). I don't believe I have any display or GPU software running other than whatever comes default with an Nvidia graphics card. Other than XCE 0.34.2 HF, the only major mod I am running is policenaut's X-Pansion Pack. Opening up an old version of X-Division under XCE 0.34.2, the brightness shift does not occur in ground combat. I'll try running a combat in a new game under 0.34.2 HF without the X-Pansion mod.

When I enter ground combat, after some short period the screen image uniformly darkens. This is especially noticeable when switching between Xenonauts and other programs or the desktop: once Xenonauts is brought back up, it starts at an appropriate brightness but darkens again within 5 seconds. Attached are before and after images of the exact effect. I am not sure if this occurred with earlier versions of Xenonauts or the Community Edition.

Does Hold the Line have higher or lower priority than this mod? Same question for the other recommended mods as well, really. Edit: Step 5 of Installation instructions.